142 Entrapmen (1/2)

The statue of Roland, which stood outside the capital, was located on the shore of a lake.

The statue, made entirely of silvery-white sand, was protected by game rules—it was unbreakable and immovable.

The statue was about three meters tall and depicted a young man wearing an ordinary magic robe, with arms akimbo, looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, giving off the vibe of an artistic young man.

What's more, there was a large, ridiculously shaped ”gold” basin, like a broken bowl, at the sand sculpture's feet.

It was actually a copper basin, and since it hadn't oxidized yet, the copper was golden in color.

Roland felt the malice of the game's production team deeply after reading it.

A sand sculpture, a big broken bowl for begging, one in the gold color symbolic of the nouveau riche.

This was too much of a spoof.

As for whether this was… insulting? Roland did have his own opinion on this.

The game development team created this sand sculpture, and all mage players who wanted to learn the passive mana regeneration skill had to come before this sculpture and throw money into it.

A conservative estimate was that Roland would receive at least 10 or 20 million yuan, and if one were to assume boldly, over a hundred million was possible.

In other words, the game development team had directly sent tens or even over a hundred million yuan directly to Roland, so what was wrong with getting a spoofed sand sculpture?

Moreover, Roland felt that the development team had some deep thoughts in doing so.

Receiving tens of millions of yuan for finding a bug, and that money would come from the players—regarded as a flock of sheep. Even if the majority of people were sensible, as long as a small number of people were envious and felt that Roland took advantage of them for his own gain, they would assemble online and deliberately lead the discussion with their posts, such as saying that Roland had a PY trading[1] relationship with the gaming company, or that he was the game development team's relative or acquaintance, using these kinds of methods to rake in money from players.

This would cause a commotion easily.

Although most people wouldn't believe it, as long as a small number of people believed it, it would be a troublesome thing for Roland.

It would also have an impact on the game company to a certain extent.

Roland reckoned that the game producers helped to design the sculpture in this way to get a laugh from most of the players who paid to learn this specialty, imperceptibly lowering their ill feelings toward Roland.

Of course, this was just Roland's personal speculation.

Shaking his head helplessly, Roland knew that the title of idiot was definitely bound to him in the future, so he felt a little dejected.

”The culinary arts in this world are abysmal. Most things taste terrible, even the big meal we had yesterday at the mayor's place wasn't very tasty.” Hawk, whose food consumption had become much greater now that he was extremely bulky, said as he ate fiercely, ”It's better if we make it ourselves.”

Roland put a piece of meat on his plate and sighed. ”Most people can't even get enough to eat, so why would they study how to make it taste good?”

”I do think it's a matter of racial talent.” Link ate in a cultured manner, chewing slowly and occasionally holding his hand over his mouth when he ate and spoke. ”For example, even if 'the empire on which the sun never sets'[2] has been rich for so many years, they haven't been seen to make their food very tasty.”

The other three burst out laughing at the same time. In the real world, there were a few things that everyone had no problem mocking and were recognized as a source of joy.

For example, the culinary skills of the empire on which the sun never sets.

The gentlemen of Fusang[3] on buses and trains, and so on.

Delicacies were easily finished. Everyone had soon eaten everything in the pot, leaving a little soup base.

While picking at his teeth, Hawk asked, ”Roland, what do you think they'll do to us?”

”If we gather together, they will definitely respond cautiously. But here's the problem.” Roland pointed to the city wall in the distance, and because of the torches on it, the towering wall looked abnormally tall and majestic in the night. ”This dock of ours is built on this city, after all, and if they don't fight us head-on, they'll block our right to enter and leave the city. By then, do you think it's necessary for this dock to continue to exist?”

Hawk nodded. ”That's what I find worrying too. Even if after a few days, when our guild comes, they won't let us enter the city—any travelers who disembark from our docks will not be given entry, and we'll have built this dock for nothing.”

On the side, Jett said matter-of-factly, ”Can't we just fight our way in? Just the mayor of a city, with slightly more soldiers, we can resurrect and kill them—their loss is permanent.”

”But the problem is that we don't have a just cause,” Roland said simply. ”This quest system thing is very metaphysical, and according to my personal intuition, it will always issue quests that are more inclined toward the good alignment. Even if a few dozen professionals from the Silver Wings came over and sieged this city, wouldn't that make them no different from robbers? Do you think the system will issue a quest called 'Remove Fallen Gamers' or something like that?”

Jett winced at that.

He was a player himself and knew very well the terrifying kind of motivation that wouldn't fail until a quest was completed once it had been issued and received.

Even if Silver Wings was powerful, could they wrestle with hundreds of thousands of players?

It would be a wonder if the entire guild didn't get hunted down to level zero.

Hawk was a little upset. ”Are we just going to have to defend passively?”

”Not necessarily, we can try entrapment!” Roland smiled.

Hawk's eyes lit up. ”Oh, Brother Kong Ming, how do you plan on strategizing?”